“If some of the array of senior figures and organisations in the NHS are anxious about what the publication of the Mid Staffordshire scandal report might mean for their reputations, that is understandable. The mammoth public inquiry was chaired by Robert Francis QC, described by solicitors who hire him as ‘formidable’ and ‘forensically exceptional’. A barrister specialising in the NHS and medical negligence, he is highly skilled at getting to the truth and quietly scathing when he feels censure is due.”